Donald Trump has spent his entire Presidency, if not his whole adult life, crafting a narrative he hopes to convince us is the “truth”.

He views it as an unforgivable offense if others offer facts that run counter to his narrative.

Above all: the narrative must be preserved.
I think about this in light of his debate performance, & his reaction to the still-unseen Lesley Stahl interview for 60 MINUTES. How much it clearly terrifies him to let anyone else pass judgment on him, tell his story, or get in the last word.

He’s like a toddler: “No. No. No!”
Now that Trump is, at least nominally, the Leader of the Free World, he feels genuinely entitled to present his narrative as fact without being challenged by anybody. It’s why he constantly complains that the MSM gangs up on him, which his acolytes are all too willing to believe.
I’ve heard Trump’s followers defend his performance in the first debate: “Biden was telling so many lies that Trump had to jump in & set the record straight!”

They just accept “shouting down all naysayers” as a perfectly reasonable response to Trump being challenged in any way.

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More from @Dreamweasel

19 Oct
Here’s the thing about Trump supporters: they all believe that virtually all of the media is lying to them, virtually all of the time.

That is a necessary precondition to being a Trump supporter. If that supposition turned out not to be true, being pro-Trump would make no sense.
Imagine having a worldview where EVERYTHING YOU BELIEVE is contingent on such a shadowy conspiracy theory. Where “The Deep State is out to get Trump” is the linchpin of every political view that guides you.

You can’t prove it; not really. But your views make no sense without it.
HOW WE GOT HERE

Step 1: TALK RADIO

R: “I will listen to Rush Limbaugh because he is entertaining and I agree with his views. He makes me feel smart by telling me things that the liberal media won’t.”
Read 6 tweets
7 Oct
In some circles of the anti-Trump universe, it is popular to imagine a post-Trump reckoning, much like that of Nazi Germany, wherein his followers deny ever having supported him.

I do not imagine anywhere near that level of self-awareness.
The GOP will never be convinced Trump did anything wrong.

They will believe the Democrats relentlessly hounded him & impeached him for no good reason.

They will believe he was unfairly blamed for the deadliest pandemic in history & cheated out of reelection by a vengeful media.
Their media bubble will ensure that they never view our shared history in the same way we see it. No matter how insanely obvious it may seem to us.

“History will not be kind” is gone. Fox News and other fact-averse media has robbed us of any kind of shared perspective.
Read 5 tweets
2 Oct
Anything is possible, but here is why I am skeptical of the claims that Trump is faking COVID-19.

(1/x)
I don’t believe he would knowingly suspend his campaign one month before the election. While his handlers may disagree, Trump truly believes he KILLED at the debate Tuesday night. Staying silent now would mean no more rallies, no more cheering crowds, no more photo ops.

(2/x)
As I’ve said before, “I’m not gonna let liberals tell me what to do!” is the primary engine behind Coronavirus skepticism, much as it is for all other conservative ideology.

(3/x)
Read 7 tweets
29 Sep
It sounds crazy, but it just might work
If you’re one of those Forgotten Americans who is sick & tired of hearing that Donald Trump is a ginormous asshole, which option is likelier to result in your hearing LESS about this particular issue over the next four years?

(a) Re-electing Trump
(b) Electing someone different
Despite the extraordinary amount of time I have spent calling Donald Trump a ginormous asshole, I TOO am sick of hearing about how Donald Trump is a ginormous asshole! I would love to go 24 hours without considering that such a ginormous asshole is in charge of the United States.
Read 5 tweets
25 Sep
COUNTERPREDICTION: Both parties will declare victory and there will be no net change in support for either side.

This conclusion is supported by literally every Presidential debate of the last two decades.
Neither Trump nor Biden is anything close to an unknown quantity at this point. Everyone knows what they’re going to get. And everyone knows whose vision they prefer.

There’s really nothing to be gained from watching them go head-to-head & call each other liars in real time.
D: I was planning to vote for Biden, but the man who has lied 20,000 times just called him a liar so now I don’t know

R: I was planning to vote for Trump, whom the Democrats & the MSM have accused of lying 20,000 times, but Biden just called him a liar again so now I don’t know
Read 4 tweets
15 Sep
Coltrane’s “defense” of Rowling amounts to 0% substantive engagement with any of her arguments & 100% scolding of her critics for being thin-skinned snowflakes who take offense at everything. It could’ve been recycled wholesale from any generic broadside against “Cancel Culture”.
Coltrane’s defense of Rowling’s mirrors her own: having long ago dismissed the validity of anything her critics could be saying about her (no matter how frequent such criticisms have become), his only explanation is that there must be some “woke mob” eager to be offended.
Indeed, the backlash against so-called “Cancel Culture” removes the focus from the target and onto the anonymous masses on the Internet for being mean to them.

What’s the reason? It doesn’t matter. “Twitter is being mean to me!” There, there.
Read 5 tweets

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